Simon Bartram Simon Bartram was an established London watch- and clockmaker who was at the centre of the early London clockmaking community throughout his career. He was a signatory on the petition to charter the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and rose through its ranks, becoming its Master from 1650 to 1651. He was also associated with one of London’s greatest clockmakers, Ahasuerus Fromanteel, even using Fromanteel’s knowledge of the then-new Dutch horological technology for his own clocks. It is also possible that he collaborated with the Scottish watch- and clockmaker David Ramsay on a watch that is uncannily similar to Ramsay’s magnificent King James Portrait Watch, made around 1618. Bartram was born around 1598, and his father, Robert Bartram, was a feltmaker in London. Simon was apprenticed to John Jelly of Castle Baynard Ward from 1611–1612 until 1619 and became free of the Merchant Taylor’s Company in 1619. He took on his first apprentice, John Ball, in 1624 through the Merchant Taylor’s Company and appears to have been active in London as a journeyman clockmaker right on through the 1660s. After the Clockmakers’ Company had been chartered by King Charles I, Bartram was made one of its first Assistants in 1632. He was given increasing responsibility as his career progressed, becoming Warden in 1638 and eventually Master from 1650 to 1651. Bartram established his workshop in Blackfriars (a parish of St Bartholomew the Less) and took on apprentices continuously throughout his career.[1] These included Ahasuerus Fromanteel II, the son of the clockmaker Ahasuerus Fromanteel. Ahasuerus II was apprenticed to Bartram in 1654 and made free of the Clockmakers’ Company in July 1663. Bartram’s connection with Fromanteel Senior extended beyond training the master clockmaker’s son. In 1656, Bartram, along with Ahasuerus’ brother John Fromanteel (identified as a clothworker) and fellow clockmaker Thomas Loomes, gave surety for Fromanteel’s acceptance into the Freedom of the City of London. Additionally, Bartram’s single-hand table clock, made around 1659 (coming soon to Clocktime), further attests to his association with Fromanteel because it was finished with a very early pendulum, like those first manufactured by Fromanteel.[2] At the time, Fromanteel was the only clockmaker in London with direct knowledge of Christiaan Huygens’ design for the domestic pendulum clock – a Dutch horological breakthrough. He even famously advertised his new domestic pendulum clocks in the Commonwealth Mercury in 1658, so we know that he had mastered the new technology probably before Bartram’s clock was made. What is more, Bartram’s clock was made while Ahasuerus II was his apprentice, and it is highly likely that Ahasuerus II worked on this clock. Bartram clearly had access to knowledge that was arguably exclusive to the Fromanteel workshop, and Hurst argues that this is ‘why Bartram was able to make the escapement of this early clock this way’.[3] Bartram also appears to have worked with the goldsmith Jeremy Gregory, who is described in Bartram’s will as a ‘loving friend’. While no examples of a collaboration between the two makers survives, a professional relationship has been intuited based on the mention of Gregory in Bartram’s will. Very few works signed by Bartram have survived. The single-hand table clock made around 1659 (mentioned above) is Bartram’s only surviving clock. Otherwise, just handful of his watches are known to have survived. There is a silver watch signed by Bartram at the Metropolitan Museum of Art dated to around 1630 (Accession Number: 17.190.1473); a silver and gilt oval verge watch of around 1630 that is now in a private collection, and a silver verge pocket watch up for auction on Bidsquare (as of May 2023). There is also an undated complex astrological watch signed ‘Simon Bartam’ (sic), certainly made by Bartram. This watch was auctioned at Sotheby’s in Geneva in 2019 and is analysed in a forthcoming article by horologist and collector Dr John C. Taylor OBE.[4] It bears an uncanny resemblance to David Ramsay’s outstanding King James Portrait Watch, made around 1618. Taylor argues that ‘there is little doubt that the two watches were made in the same workshop by the same watchmaker(s), under the same leadership and probably using the same engraver’, in this case Gérard de Heck. The nature of Bartram and Ramsay’s professional relationship, and whether they worked together in any capacity, are not known. Although Bartram was younger than Ramsay, they certainly knew of one another from around 1630 onwards, as they were both London clockmakers and involved in the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. As mentioned above, Bartram was a signatory on the petition to charter the Company, and, in 1632, he was made one of its first Assistants of the Company. At the same time, Ramsay was lackadaisically serving as the Company’s first Master. The men’s paths certainly crossed again when Bartram served as Master of the Company from 1650 to 1651. Surely, Bartram was well aware of Ramsay’s chronic financial difficulties between 1652 and 1654, when Ramsay voted to award himself a grant from the Company funds. Bartram worked in Blackfriars until at least 1662. In October 1663, he married for the second time and died a few years later in 1667. In his will, dated July 1665, he left the marital home to his second wife (it was hers before the marriage). He also bequeathed £5 to his ‘loving friend’, the goldsmith Gregory, and 40 shillings to the clockmaker Nicholas Coxeter ‘to buy him a ring to weare in remembrance of me and my love to him’. Bartram’s will was proved in November 1667. End Notes [1] Bartram’s apprentices included: Henry Stigg (through O. Durant), apprenticed November 1637; William Anderson (through L. Wythe), apprenticed February 1646 or 1647; Christopher Hall (through T. Alcock), apprenticed March 1646 or 1647 and made free in November 1655; Ahasuerus Fromanteel II (taken over from L. Wythe), apprenticed 1654 and made free in July 1663; Joseph Romney (through L. Wythe), apprenticed August 1657 and made free in October 1664; and John Curtis (through S. Horne), apprenticed March 1664 until Bartram’s death in 1667. Curtis’ apprenticeship then passed on to the goldsmith Jeremy Gregory. [2] For Bartram clock see Darken 2003, 28–29; Garnier and Hollis 2018, 142–143, Catalogue No. 17; Taylor et al. 2004, 52–53. [3] Hurst 2000, 278–283. [4] Sotheby’s in Geneva, 2019, Sale Lot No. 58; also see Clutton and Daniels (1979), figs 109–111. References Clutton, S. and G. Daniels. 1979. Watches: A complete history of the technical and decorative development of the watch (3rd edition). London: Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications, London. Darken, J. (editor). 2003. Horological Masterworks: English 17th century clocks from private collections. London: Antiquarian Horological Society. Garnier, R. and L. Hollis. 2018. Innovation & Collaboration: The early development of the pendulum clock in London. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Hurst, M. 2000. ‘Early English pendulum clocks: Some further reflections and examples made during the first twelve years’ in Antiquarian Horology (March). Taylor, J. C. and F. Van Kersen. 2004. Huygens’ Legacy: The golden age of the pendulum clock. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Further Reading Dawson, P. G., C. B. Drover and D. W. Parkes. 1994 [1982]. Early English Clocks: A discussion of domestic clocks up to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Woodbridge: The Antique Collectors Club, pp. 35 and 37, pls 37 and 43. Lee, R. A. 1978. ‘Early pendulum clocks’ in Antiquarian Horology (Winter), pp. 146–147. Loomes, B. 1981. The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain. London: NAG Press, p. 76. Plomp, R. 1979. Spring-driven Dutch pendulum clocks 1637–1710. Schiedam: Interbook International B. V.